Sunday, 2 July 2017

Anticipating An Author

IIRC, SM Stirling's Rudi Mackenzie spared his antagonist, Graber. Will
anything come of this? Might Father Ignatius be able to exorcise
whatever it is that possesses leading Cutters? I have a poor track
record for anticipating authors but I wonder whether anything might come
of this line of enquiry. In another timeline, I imagine that Stirling's
Count Ignatieff was irredeemable.
-copied from here.

I did not perform too badly here. A Cutter is exorcised not by Father Ignatius but by the Sword of the Lady and, when Graber is not longer taking orders from that possessed Cutter, there is no longer any reason for him and Rudi to fight. It is like an American and a German in Europe after the War has ended. Or it could be like Dominic Flandry and Aycharaych after the latter's motivation to support Merseia has been ended - but we do not see Aycharaych after the bombardment of Chereion and do not even know whether he survived.

However, despite my comparison with post-War Europe, the War is definitely not over for Rudi and his subjects. When they return to the lands of their allies, the word is:

1 comment:

I have argued in other comments that if Count Ignatieff had been raised as a Christian, he might well have been a very good man. I recall yet again Yasmini's comment that the Count was a man of deep faith and piety. Alas, the god he served was the Peacock Angel, Satan. But it is theoretically possible that if the Count had not been killed in THE PESHAWAR LANCERS, repentance and redemption might yet have come to him.

I think it is more accurate to say that once Major Graber came to doubt the rightness of serving the CUT, then the reason he had for so fiercely and resolutely fighting Rudi disappeared. Graber did have to go thru a period of doubt and reflection while he wrestled with the question of whether the CUT deserved his loyalty.